Interlanguage & fossilization Presentation Transcript

Interlanguage & fossilization Dolly Ramos LanguageDevelopmentSelinker learner builds up her own rules - and speaks a language which is neither the Target language(L2) nor the mother tongue Learners develop the interlanguagethrough using strategies to communicate and learn the lg. Leading to negative consequence of lg learning interference Whatisfossilization It refers to the process in which the sshas more and more difficulty furthering, until he cant learn no more Aspects of lg that were learned incompletely or incorrectly, such as gr, vbs, pron, idiom, vocab. Why Does Fossilization Happen? There's no real rule determining when we begin to fossilize. (interlg) Most often occurs in an inadequate learning environment. Many aspects of a lgsimply cannot be taught in a classroom still occur despite complete emersion (immigrants). Fossilization (beliefs) in SLL, occurs when certain mistakes seem to be impossible to correct in spite of the ability and motivation, they cannot be unlearned and replaced with correct usage. It is the result of: frequent use lack of correction reinforcement from successful communication Critical Period Hypothesis It is unavoidable in individuals who learns a lg beyond the CPH However, fss varies among those still well within the CPH those within the CPH are not universally invulnerable to the effect. What is the risk of fossilization? your risk to develop fossilization is not understood. The current understanding is that those who are learning the lgwithin a native environment are less likely to fossilize Ssmay continue to make progress in certain areas, and yet return again and again to the same error http://www.brighthub.com/education/languages/articles/63102.aspx sociological The sociological situation and the community in relation that speaks the L2 can have a significant effect on lg. Other factors which may either induce fossilization or prevent it. o affective factors o amount of exposure input o opportunities for expression o negative feedback - (note - not correction) absence or presence of pressure on communication

How does the learner proceed from one Interlanguage stage to the next? By using the different strategies that learners build up mental grammars of the L2. As grammar is provisional experimental constructions, the rules can be seen as hypotheses. the interlanguage may include several competing hypotheses so the speaker's language is variable, as he tries out first one and then another. Fossilisation However, it is extremely rare for the learner of an L2 to achieve full native-like competence: Selinker coined the term 'Fossilization' they continued making errors such as the use of simple past instead of simple present - no amount of grammatical explanation or of error correction had any effect. Fossilization may simply affect certain structures. Thus Selinker says that : Fossilizable linguistic phenomena are linguistic items, rules and subsystems which speakers of a particular NL will tend to keep in their IL relative to a particular TL, no matter what the age of the learner or amount of explanation and instruction he receives in the TL. (NL - Native Language; IL - Interlanguage; TL - Target Language) As this implies, a student may continue to make progress in certain areas, and yet return again and again to the same error. Thus, for example, we find advanced students who communicate with great skill and who make very few errors, but still do not master the Pluperfect aspect of the verb in English. Where does the learner start? According to Pitt Corder, the learner begins not with his own L1, but with a highly simplified version of it, which is, as it were, a memory of one of the early stages of L1 learning. This 'stripped down' or basic system gives the learner his first hypotheses - some linguists claim that it may be universal - that is, that these are the rules that are at the basis of all languages. The learner then builds up from the stripped down form to greater complexity. (This may remind you of what was said about the relationship between Pidgin and Creole). How does this building-up proceed? How does the learner get from one form of interlanguage to the next? Tarone holds that new language can enter the learner's system in one of two ways : - directly into the informal style, from where it may spread to more formal styles. This may result in language being acquired in the 'natural' order - into the most formal style, and only used when the learner is paying close attention to speech - then spreads into more informal styles Ellis takes a similar position, only he insists on the distinction between 'planned' and 'unplanned' language. In unplanned discourse, the speaker uses automatic and unanalysed knowledge. In planned discourse, the speaker uses analysed knowledge monitoring is an example of this. Development takes two forms - learners make knowledge that was at first available only for planned discourse available for unplanned discourse. - learners acquire new L2 by participating in different types of discourse - they create new rules for themselves through discourse a) replaces defective forms with more accurate forms. Thus at one stage in the acquisition of the negation, the learner may be producing both 'I no like it' and 'I don't like it'. Gradually she replaces the first with the second. b) learns to use one form in one context, and the other in another - thus using different forms for different functions.

A learner may have two request structures - "Would you mind passing the salt, please?" and 'Hey, pass the salt!". She comes to realise that one of these belongs to a more formal register. Just as I discovered that one is not supposed to 'tu-toi' the CRS officer who is asking for your identity papers.